Chapter 21: Bitter to the Touch

Adrien closed the door with a sigh. Chloe was cold and distant for about five seconds until she found out Marinette wasn't around. Her father was so preoccupied with where his father was he could barely keep his sanity between the pair's constant prodding and poking for his attention.

Now he could return to the quiet evening he was having in solitude with Mar-

"Marinette?" He opened his eyes and looked around. Where was she?

He saw that the window was open and noticed the ribbon she had used to keep her hair in that twisted bun was now on the ground below the balcony. What happened?

"ADRIEN!"

He looked up to see Tikki two inches from his face. "What's going on?"

"Marinette needs you! She followed an Akuma down the well and she's-"

"What? Huh?" Adrien stepped back.

"Hawkmoth."

"Plagg! Adrien called out to him as he rolled out of his pocket.

"Don't have to ask twice." Plagg nodded.

"Claws out!"

Adrien leapt down to the ground without a second thought …until it occurred to him.

"Tikki what is Hawkmoth doing on my property?"

"They're not…it's …it's..uhm...complicated?"

"You know, there is something you're not telling me."

"I'd watch out, this is a trap. Hawkmoth wants to use Marinette to trap you and Ladybug…" Tikki changed the topic focusing on the danger ahead.

"Why? Why Marinette?" Cat Noir lept down the well in another quick bound. He felt something odd about this.

"He thought that you were saving her from all of those Akumatized people on your own because you and her are an item…"

"What?"

"He saw the blog…and he told her she's not fit to date his son if she's with Cat Noir at the same time…"

"Well that's silly…she's dating-"

"Well you…but you'd better hurry…"

"Wait…you said His son?"

"Oh…well I uh…" Tikki feigned a weak smile. "You're father's been the one whose been stealing the water…that's what I meant."

"My father?" He blinked.

"If you look around the corner they should be there?" Tikki whispered.

"My father did this…why?" Cat Noir turned and saw the compressed water tanks, with the built up tunnels. How did he do this? Was this what kept him back behind the house…but his secret studio must be farther into the trees…the roads went there…

"Where is my father then Tikki?"

Tikki bit her cheek. He had to find out on his own. "I don't know. With Marinette probably…"

"Then we're going to have to move through these tunnels fast." Cat Noir felt something off. In his head he could hear Plagg and he knew his insticts were right; Tikki was holding something back, but she had no reason to lie about his father being involved. Something was going on…and Marinette…she'd put herself in danger…

"Why didn't she change into Ladybug?" He asked before they swiftly moved through the tunnels ahead and up a set of stairs.

"I can't say…she wanted to ask your father first about the water but…just... let's just find her…"

"Okay..." he was hesitant to stop his questioning but he could hear in Tikki's voice a solemnness that perhaps meant she blamed herself for Marinette's predicament.

Something was going on here, and none of it sounded promising.

"You won't turn me into anything…those Akuma's won't effect me...I won't let them."

"Even your anger...now that you know that Adrien's father is in fact I seems to hold no power...You hold such pain and yet i don't see it come out…"

"It is not anger. I'm sad for Adrien…you have no clue how much you'll hurt him when he finds out!" Marinette knew she wasn't angry...perhaps frustrated, feeling a weight on her, but she did not feel angry...if she did that she'd only put Adrien in a worse spot if she was turned against him.

"He will never find out! When he does by the time it is over, he will relish in what I accomplish when I steal those Miraculouses."

Marinette knew that if Tikki brought Adrien here it would go south quick…if she could find a way to turn him around…but it seemed hopeless.

"What are you doing with the Miraculous?" She inquired, trying to at least figure out his plan.

"What do you care?"

"You…you…uhm…you've been terrorizing our city of course I care…"

"Simple. I want to combine them and use the power they hold to grant myself something I lost long ago…it wasn't until recently that I realized I could use this power…this power to steal all of the positive energy and use it for negative powers…"

"I don't…" Marinette inched back on the floor. What was he planning. She was in some kind of windowed temple that she presumed may have once been a secret studio but was now the hideaway of Hawkmoth. The strangest part of it all was he used a Miraculous himself – and yet whatever Kwami was present …it was docile and being used for evil…what exactly did Mr. Agreste harbor in dark emotions that could overtake a Kwami's will?

"Of course you don't know what it means, but the power I would gain...you're meek mundane mind has no clue. I will take the Miraculous. First Cat Noir's and I will use my Akuma's powers to steal all of the positive energy it holds until it is powerless…it can recharge while it is safe with me, and by the time I have Ladybug's too, with all the new power I stole from it I can amplify my dark power…"

"But the water…."

"Ah, getting ahead are we? The water ways were how I planned on using my Akumas to spread through the city…if I transform everyone into Akumatized monsters so I can weed out whoever else holds the rest of the Miraculous…someone else will come to face them in an attempt to play another hero and I will have twice as much power in my hands to defeat them with until I can come to make my wishes reality."

"But what will become of the town?" Marinette felt herself wishing she hadn't gone own the well just yet. Were they ready for this? Would Adrien be ready for his father's anger?

"What does it matter? I will restore this city as a place of safety…the mayor can step down and I will make sure everything works according to plan…nobody will ever step out of line…this reckless world will cease to exist as it does."

"What if your son get's hurt…" Marinette felt a grain of truth in her words, as she trembled keeping her despair…the pain she felt for Adrien's sake when he would come to see this darkness in his father.

"He will not get hurt. I keep him close so that nobody can ever-"

"But you hurt him! Don't you get it? You distance yourself from him and-"

...

Cat Noir was running up the steps when he heard voices. Marinette. But the other voice…was it his father? He knew now that he was in his father's "studio". And yet he'd seen Akuma flying around the place like a nesting ground. Was Hawkmoth holding his father for ransom too? He looked out a window to see that the back roads lead here.

Cat Noir braced himself around the corner to another room with a large stained glass window. He could hear them clearly now:

"I do not distance myself from him, I keep him safe in my home and I should have kept him from that school where he met such people as yourself who would be willing to hurt him for the sake of a superhero in a Cat suit!"

Was it his father…or could that be Hawkmoth? Tikki looked as though she was about to cry…what was this?

"But you do! You didn't get him a birthday gift! He wanted one so bad, just so he could have a normal relationship...all everyone ever wants is to feel normal and be loved…and now? Now this…I don't want him to find out who you are…I don't want him to hurt because of this…"

"Why would he ever find out who I am?"

Cat Noir looked to Tikki and then waited a minute. Find out who his father was? What was this?

"Because…he'll come for me…and he'll come for you too…and he'll see what you've done. I can't understand why you turned a Kwami to darkness…or had to be the same person as Hawk Moth but … if you love your son you need to stop now!" Marinate pleaded.

"What right do you have to tell me this? My son will survive either way, and there is only one thing in the world I want more…even if he did find out, he would have to grow to like it because sooner or later he would realize all of this is for him! Perhaps foremost for me, but he will benefit too! I truly hope for your sake your little Cat-Noir shows up soon because your words are getting on my nerves and I don't think you should have the audacity to speak as if you are above me when you are some petty girl from a bake-shop who thinks she is good enough for my son!"

Just as Hawkmoth used his powers again, as a rush of butterflys in darkness threw Marinette against the wall not far from the glass window, about a few feet from where he was standing, Cat Noir peaked out from his hiding place.

Hawkmoth. Was Hawkmoth his father? But he was not Hawkmoth's son…he was Gabriel Agreste's …and Marinette…

He walked calmly to Marinette and picked her up by the neck. "You have about ten seconds before I end it here…or you can give up and just become Akumatized…"

"I don't think—it would ever work …I don't hate you…I sympathize…for what…how…you will hurt…people…you – love—" Marinette coughed out as his grasp got tighter. "You- are -Adrien's father...not- you don't have to-"

It was just then that Hawkmoth noticed something about her earrings. "It can't be?"

Suddenly a sharp stab knocked his hand away from her neck and she fell to the ground.

"Ah so the Cat has arrived?" He rubbed his hand as he saw a staff retract into Cat Noir's grasp.

Cat Noir seemed to walk absently to Marinette without saying a word and picked her up off the floor.

"Adrien…I'm sorry…" She whispered .

"Don't be Marinette. I won't stop fighting for you…even if it means facing this."

She saw the way his cat-eyes glossed over…tears…and something of an absent stare.

"Give up your Miraculous and she'll be let go?"

"Says the man who doesn't seem to care about his family?"

"What do you know about what I have done for my family?"

"More than you do... and you call yourself an Agreste. I expect you don't care about who you hurt as long as you have things go your way. Did you consider who you would hurt if you hurt Marinette…what her family would feel…what I would feel…what your son…" Cat Noir's head tilted down as his fists grew tense with anger and sadness. "What Adrien Agreste would say?"

"He doesn't even know about my past enough. He is my son and the only person who remains safe because I kept him in that house away from niave people like-"

"I will not give you my Miraculous."

"Even for her? She seemed so empathetic and yet your anger has grown so strong? What nerves have I plucked of yours? I would be careful…it would be all too easy for me to turn you against her…"

"I would never stand against her. Although this…this is not…what I planned…I will stand against you, Gabriel Agreste…and not because I want to either." Cat Noir felt his head spin. He wanted to run away and he had felt his heart break a million times for his father...but knowing if he did so, he would be leaving Marinette to his mercy...

"Hand me you're Miraculous and she will be saved! I won't involve her."

"Never."

"Then perhaps I ought to send flight to my butterflies…because a storm is brewing!"

Suddenly the butterfly akumas in the room spread around like a tornado in a large brush of dark purple power which came through Marinette and Cat Noir, pushing them away from eachother and into a wall.

Marinette knew it was now or never. Tikki must be nearby if Adrien was here. He couldn't do this on his own.

"Tikki…Spot's-"

That's when her hand went to her ear.

She was missing one of her earrings.